Weblogs: Gadgets and Stuff

Hunting for a sub-notebook

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Super-slim, light-weight with external CD-rom and floppy drives, sub-notebooks fill the gap for a user always on the go. Something that can be slipped into a briefcase or backpack that doesn't require a fork-lift truck to move around. Battery-life is a crucial aspect in this category, and times of three hours or more are typically common.

My interest in the sub-notebook was piqued after spending some time using one during a volunteer marketing research campaign. I got to fiddle about with a Panasonic Toughbook CF-R1 - a slinky machine designed to be moved, designed to survive, and designed with anti-drool features.

Over the past few years some notable machines have made the lime-light, though annoyingly some models are limited to the Asian market (probably because of the abnormal demand for these machine compared to the rest of the world). A couple of models made it into my shopping list.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-R1: Brand new entry on the market. Panasonic have a range of military-grade laptops., built to survive life in rugged terrain. The Toughbook is reputed to still work after being knocked off a table on a concrete floor. It is also water proof. The CF-R1 is minute, I did spot a few in Micro Anvika and unfortunately they are a little too small keyboard wise for me.
Thinkpad X23 and S31: IBM have always done well with the Thinkpad range - different models for each requirement. I depend on Thinkpads, I'm currently using both the i-Series (with a 15.5 inch screen and DVD) for web development, and my trusty eBay delivered Thinkpad 600e packed to the gills with 288Mb Ram, 10Gb Harddisk and the extra Ultrabay battery which is handy for my application development needs (Visualage and Eclipse). So there's no surprise that I opted for the X23 as my content management/ editor laptop.
Sharp Actius UM10M: Its a pity Sharp no longer produce this laptop - mainstream about two years ago, the Actius had a full sized-keyboard nestled in a then unheard-of 1 inch thick chassis. Though a few comments mentioned the keyboard not being as good quality as the Thinkpad.

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